In many contexts, the ability to verify the existence and history of data is valuable. For example, in the medical and financial fields, regulators require that certain records are kept and proving that digital records existed on a certain date and have not been altered may be important for companies and individuals to demonstrate compliance. As another example, in some research contexts, it may be important for scientists to be able to demonstrate the date on which certain discoveries were made with verifiable data.
Data provenance verification can be provided by using historical record tacking and/or audit to verify the date on which specific data were created. However, many existing computer systems do not provide such functionality. While these existing systems may be modified to add this functionality, doing so is invasive. The required modifications are likely to require system downtime, testing, and/or validation, which may not be viable for business, technological, regulatory, or other reasons. Thus, businesses and other entities are faced with situations where data provenance verification is desirable (or even required) but cannot be provided by the available technology.